


Obsession

by jordankennedy



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Canon-Typical The Spiral Content (The Magnus Archives), Gen, Nonbinary Character, Statement Fic (The Magnus Archives), full content warnings in fic, nonbiney b+h :] they are trans and in love, though that's not rly expanded on in this specifically HOWEVER, yeah there's a lot in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:20:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28603578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordankennedy/pseuds/jordankennedy
Summary: #0161706Statement of James Breekon and Alex Hope, regarding the death of The Philosophical Zombies’ guitarist, Tom Smith.
Relationships: Stranger Entity Breekon & Stranger Entity Hope (The Magnus Archives)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Obsession

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE read the content warnings provided it gets fairly gross near the end
> 
> breekon uses he/they and hope uses he/they/it
> 
> also sorry if this is formatted a bit weird, i was trying to emulate what the transcripts were like and it didn’t translate 100% accurately

Content warnings: human remains, body horror, blood/gore (inc. nosebleeds), unsanitary elements, deterioration of mental health/mental instability, generally paranoia inducing(?), obsessive behavior. Mentions of hallucinations, nightmares.

—

[CLICK]

  
  
  


ARCHIVIST

And you’re certain you’re not hot, mister..?

  
  


BREEKON

James Breekon. Don’t really have a clue what you’re talking about.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

It is the middle of June, and you’re wearing a jacket and a hoodie.

  
  


BREEKON

I get cold easily.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

[ _flatly_ ] I see. And- and you, you’re m—

  
  


HOPE

I’m gonna stop you before you finish that. I ain’t no “mister”. The name’s Hope. [ _pause_ ] Alex Hope.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

My apologies. I should know better than to assume. So, you two are here to—

  
  


HOPE

Give a statement.

  
  


BREEKON

Just like we said we would.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

Oh. Together?

  
  


HOPE

How else would we do it, mate?

  
  


ARCHIVIST

Ah. I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Typically, only one person gives a statement at a time, and—

  
  


BREEKON

Oh, really?

  
  


HOPE

Huh, didn’t know that.

  
  


BREEKON

Don’t suppose you could make an exception just this once?

  
  


HOPE

I’d prefer to stick with them while giving my statement. 

  
  


BREEKON

Easier for me to talk when I’m around Alex.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

I- I suppose I _could_ make an exception, but… but are you sure you two can’t do this separately? Absolutely sure?

  
  


HOPE

We sounded pretty sure, didn’t we? Besides, it’d make your job harder.

  
  


BREEKON

It’d just be a waste of time, giving two statements about the same event.

  
  


HOPE

We can if you really want, but again, I don’t really want to.

  
  


BREEKON

Me neither.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

[ _oh good lord_ ] Fine. If you’re so insistent, then… fine. We’ll do things your way. [ _muttering_ ] God knows how this’ll complicate things. Statement of James Breekon and Alex Hope regarding…

  
  


BREEKON

The death of the lead guitarist The Philosophical Zombies—

  
  


HOPE

—Tom Smith.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

Statement taken direct from [ _hm_ ] subjects, 17th June 2016.

Statement begins.

  
  


HOPE (STATEMENT)

Always knew Tom would get himself killed somehow. Never really pictured him dying of old age, y’know? Bit of a reckless bastard if you ask me. [ _pause_ ] Don’t give me that look, James, I know what you’re gonna say.

  
  


BREEKON (STATEMENT)

[ _hey now_ ] Wasn’t gonna say anything. But yeah, Tom didn’t have a decent sense of self preservation. Didn’t really have to be around him for long to know that.

  
  


HOPE

Unlike him, I’ve known Tom for years. Whenever my mates decided they wanted to start a band, I didn’t even think twice about asking him to join. He was one of the best damn guitar players I’ve ever met. We owe him a solid amount of our success. You ever hear of our band before this?

  
  


BREEKON

Doubt he has. We ain’t exactly mainstream. Our _success_ comes from a handful of devoted fans. Not important right now though. Tom definitely was a character. He was the one who approached me after the last bassist… quit.

  
  


HOPE

[ _chuckling_ ] The last one _quit_ because there was an argument. That’s a story I’ll give off the record though. We needed someone more level headed, so we brought in James. Not exactly sure how Tom found him, but it was the best decision we’ve made I think. 

  
  


[BREEKON HUMS, THE NOISE HALFWAY BETWEEN FOND AND SAYING “OH, STOP IT”.]

  
  


Things were going great for a bit. Had a few stellar concerts, put out a few albums, _and_ we were talking about doing a collab with another band. But then…

  
  


BREEKON

Then he started acting weird. It was about, what, half a year ago it started?

  
  


HOPE

Just about.

  
  


BREEKON

Even if Tom wasn’t good at keeping himself out of trouble, he was always a chill guy. Approachable. Made me feel comfortable in the band real quickly, and honestly, not many people have that sort of talent. But one day he just changed. Dunno when I noticed it first, but he seemed more… on edge. Didn’t wanna comment on it really, it wasn’t my business. But then I nearly made him jump outta his skin one practice because I “snuck up on him”. I’ll admit, I do walk kinda quietly, but then Alex did the same thing and he _always_ makes himself known.

  
  


HOPE

[ _audible eye roll_ ] Thanks. I tried talking to him about it, but Tom just told me to piss off. I didn’t want him to be in a bad mood for the rest of practice, so I did. He still played well and all. Guess I thought that he was just having some sort of personal issue that could be fixed with a bit of messing around. [ _laugh_ ] Usually worked.

  
  


BREEKON

Yeah, but not this time. After that, it just continued. Nobody knew what to do about it because he’d get defensive and swear at us. If we kept pushing him, he’d get this weird, far-off look on his face. At that point in time I assumed that he was going through some sort of mental health crisis that he tried to keep on the down low. It was sad to watch. Not exactly easy watching someone you care about change completely.

[ _long pause, then a sigh_ ]

We knew something was seriously wrong when he started drawing on

his arms. I invited him over to hang out with me and Alex sometime in October. He showed up in long sleeves, which isn’t really… outta place, but I keep my flat pretty warm since my circulation’s a bit shit. After awhile, he started to look uncomfortable. I told him I could turn down the heat, but he said he could handle it. I didn’t believe him for a second. Once he looked like he was about to pass out, he rolled up his sleeves.

Every inch of skin that I could see was covered in spirals. He must’ve used some sort of marker or pen or _something_ , but the pattern covered both of his arms. Wasn’t sure what to say then, I was in shock.

  
  


HOPE

Me and James just looked at each other for a second, and then I cracked a joke about Tom getting some new tattoos without telling us. He… [ _muttering_ ] didn’t find it very funny.

  
  


BREEKON

He looked like he was about to slap you across the face.

  
  


HOPE

Wouldn’t be the first time.

  
  


BREEKON

[ _you are impossible_ ] Right. Anyways, naturally I asked about the whole, uh, spiral thing. Tom got real quiet, didn’t speak for a minute or two. He had that same distant look on his face, and I was worried that I messed up royally.

  
  


HOPE

Before I could ask my own questions, Tom started talking. He was— he seemed scared, almost? Like, he was looking around as if he’d get caught doing something illegal. I hadn’t seen him act like that in years. He started to explain that he’d been visited by, um…

  
  


[HOPE STUTTERS, TRYING TO GET BACK ON TRACK. AFTER A FEW SECONDS OF THIS, HE NEARLY GROWLS IN FRUSTRATION.]

  
  


I can’t remember. James, do you..?

  
  


BREEKON

Wasn’t it a “happy gentleman”? Or was it “cheery”...

  
  


HOPE

[ _aha!_ ] It was cheery! Yeah, that’s who it was. He said that he’d been having nightmares after getting lost. He didn’t say where he got lost at, not really. When I asked, he said that it was in a place full of mirrors. Or was it doors? I dunno. It’s not that important, I guess. He went on to say that the nightmares had gotten really bad, and then this “gentleman” of his started visiting. I reckon he was a bit in love with this man with the way he was talking about him. 

But I, um, I thought it _was_ made up. Like, entirely. I reasoned that his issues that he refused to get help for had led him to get to this point. I’ve seen it happen a few times before. And- and _christ_ , the way he was talking about the man who came to visit him was… it wasn’t right. He sounded proper obsessed with him. It wasn’t healthy. Can you really blame me for not believing him? I- I just… I dunno. I wish I took him more seriously. Maybe if I had he wouldn’t have…

  
  


[HOPE’S WORDS TRAIL OFF. THERE ARE SOUNDS OF MOTION, AND THEN A SIGH FROM HOPE. IT CAN BE ASSUMED THAT BREEKON HAS PUT HIS ARM AROUND IT.]

  
  


BREEKON

[ _a great deal softer_ ] You can’t keep blaming yourself. There’s no way you could’ve known what would happen. Neither of us did. You’re alright, Alex. [ _back to the statement_ ] I wasn’t sure what to make of it either. I wanted to believe him ‘cause he seemed like he was in an _awful_ place, but I just couldn’t. 

According to him, the man told him to draw the patterns on his arms and, yeah, at that point I thought that he was properly losing it. This had to be some sort of hallucination— sleep deprivation does that to you. Told him that he should go see someone if his nightmares were keeping him up, and you know what he did? He _laughed_ at me. Wasn’t his normal laugh. It was… cold. Mocking, almost. I think that’s what got to me the most.

  
  


HOPE

[ _imitating Tom_ ] “Why would I want that? The man would stop visiting me, I don’t want that”. That’s what he said. Freaked me right the hell out. And I think Tom noticed too, because he just up and left. After that he, uh…

  
  


BREEKON

We started seeing him less and less. First, he stopped going out with us. Then he stopped posting on social media, and _then_ after a few months he just wound up not coming to practice anymore. All of us tried to get in contact with him after he missed three sessions in a row, can’t really practice without your lead guitar being there. We were lucky to get one message back from him. Come April, it was like he dropped off the face of the planet.

Naturally, I was worried. So I called Alex to come over and help me check Tom’s place. It was the 12th, I remember the day because Alex and I’s anniversary was the following week. We got to Tom’s flat at around noon, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was _very wrong_. Thought it was just nerves being all weird, but as we got to the front door, I realized that it wasn’t just that.

The door was unlocked, which was already worrying. Tom’s not stupid, so he should know better than to leave it unlocked like that. Not to mention, all of the lights were off. I couldn’t really make out much, but… that wouldn’t be an issue for long. I fumbled around for a light switch, and when I found one, I was left speechless.

  
  


HOPE

Y’know how he had those spiral patterns on his arm? Yeah, this time those very same ones covered the walls and the floors. The furniture too. Everything that we could see, really. Some were painted, some were carved into surfaces, others were— okay, I know how this sounds, but I think some of them were drawn with blood. That’s probably in the police report. I didn’t bother checking. I probably wouldn’t be able to stomach it.

So, James and I started checking around for some sort of life. I dunno why I decided to take the kitchen first. The drawings continued there, naturally, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the smell. I checked the fridge and all of his food had gone rotten like he hadn’t cleaned it out in _months._ I nearly threw up then. It was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I’ve gotta tell you what was scrawled out in there either. That basically confirmed my fears that Tom was gone for good.

I left pretty quickly. James had checked a few more rooms, so all that was left was Tom’s bedroom. I- I was expecting the worst. There was no way he was alive. So, James and I went upstairs and there was- there was another _horrible_ smell. It’s, um, it’s hard to describe. Rotten, _vile._ I don’t like thinking about it, but it was bad. Really, really bad. I let James go ahead and open the door once we reached it. And- and y’know, I said I knew Tom would end up getting killed somehow, but I never imagined it’d be like this.

  
  


BREEKON

Dunno what I was expecting when I opened the door. Certainly wasn’t what we were met with. The smell immediately got ten times worse. The room was covered in blood. Tom’s own, no doubt. The patterns continued on and on and on. Tom— or, what _was_ Tom— was on his bed. Didn’t recognize him at first because he was- he was twisted up. His body folded in on itself, _distorted_. His arms and legs were bent at weird angles, and bits of bone were sticking out from where they were snapped. But even those were twisted and molded into winding shapes. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I saw his organs sitting next to him. Probably his intestines. Something like that anyways. His veins had been ripped out too, tying his wrists together. He barely looked human. His face was stretched out, but from what I could see he didn’t look scared. He seemed happy, almost. Think so at least. It was a bit hard to tell considering… everything. I’m… sorry if that‘s too much detail, but you gotta understand what happened to him wasn’t just a “regular” murder. Or even a murder at all.

[ _clears throat_ ] I consider myself to be pretty strong willed but that was something else. I froze, unable to look away. Think that’s what burned it into my memory too. I still have dreams about it, which isn’t too surprising I guess. It’s only been two months since it happened anyways. But I reason being in a state of shock helped me out a bit, ironic as that is. Didn’t really get sick or anything. Alex… wasn’t so lucky, though.

  
  


HOPE

Yeah, I’ll let you put two and two together as to what I did. I practically ran back downstairs after that, I didn’t even think twice about looking back. Once I got back to the living room, I noticed a small notebook on the end table. [ _heh_ ] A _spiral_ notebook.

  
  


[AUDIBLE DISTASTE FROM BOTH BREEKON AND THE ARCHIVIST. HOPE SEEMS PLEASED WITH HIMSELF.]

  
  


I guess I hadn’t noticed it before. It was odd, really. That was the only thing in the house that didn’t have something drawn all over it. I was curious so I… picked it up and opened it. Looked to be a journal of some sort. It was organized at first, if not concerning. Tom wrote about how he was going to be “truly close” with the man who visited him. As I read more, I could see where he started to go off the deep end. His handwriting got messier and he started to- to draw himself with this man. The gentleman had “saved him” from where he had been trapped, so he felt like he had to “repay him”. I can’t see how filling his house with spirals was any sort of repayment, but I don’t really wanna think about it too long.

[ _pause_ ] The last few pages were him saying that he was “almost ready” and that he was going to “finally achieve true bliss”. Whatever that meant. I was about to turn to the last page, but before I could, someone put their hand on my shoulder. I spun around, dropping the notebook in the process. And you know who I see? The guy that Tom had described. Even now I can’t- I can’t really remember what he looked like. I mean, I’ve got some basic information. Taller than me, dressed real fancy— the buttons on his coat shone a bit too bright, they hurt to look at. He had a smile that gave me a headache. Handsome too, I think. But his features seemed blurry and out of focus except for that damned smile.

He seemed nice enough though, it wasn’t like he was out to get me or anything. That probably wasn’t a good sign for me, but after what I saw? A friendly face was a godsend. He kept smiling and asked what I was doing. I told him, and he laughed. Y’know what’s funny? It was the same goddamn laugh Tom did back at James’ flat. It sounded better coming from him, but it made my headache worse. I squinted up at him and tried to ask what the hell his issue was, but the words got stuck in my throat. He just smiled at me and told me not to go “peering into other people’s business”. That we should just leave Tom to him. I nodded despite myself. I wanted to tell him to fuck off, or at least _get away_ , but all I could do was stare at him.

He smiled wider, and I could barely feel the blood coming out of my nose. I was just stood there like some sort of idiot. The worst part about it though was that I could finally see what Tom saw in this man. I _trusted_ him. He just seemed _real_ nice and friendly. He patted my cheek, and then—

  
  


ARCHIVIST

Were his hands sharp?

  
  


HOPE

Huh?

  
  


ARCHIVIST

This- this man, after he patted your cheek, did you suffer any injuries? Like being cut or something of the sort?

  
  


HOPE

No, not at all. The only thing weird about it was how many fingers he had. Eight. Just like Tom said. As I was _trying_ to say, after he did that, the man was gonna say something before James came back downstairs.

  
  


BREEKON

I had called the police to report whatever the hell was happening there. Couldn’t just let Tom rot in his bedroom. Well, any more than he had already. Don’t think that the man knew that I was there ‘cause when he saw me, he was proper startled. Before you ask, no, I can’t really describe him either. Got an awful migraine the last time I tried to. I can’t remember his face at all, once he stopped smiling it was like he almost _wanted_ not to be seen. He picked up the notebook that was on the floor and tipped his hat at me, and just like that he was gone. Vanished out of thin air.

I was more concerned with making sure that Alex was alright after that. Their nosebleed was pretty bad. Nearly had to force them to sit down so they wouldn’t collapse.

  
  


HOPE

Yeah, and you ruined a decent jacket in the process.

  
  


BREEKON

[ _really?_ ] You were pale, babe. Paler than you normally are, actually. If I didn’t give you something to stop the bleeding with, you would’ve passed out.

  
  


HOPE

Alright, alright, I get it. Are we done with this? We don’t wanna waste the Archivist’s time, we’re almost done with the story.

  
  


BREEKON

[ _oh come on_ ] As if you weren’t the one who brought it up. Anyways, the police arrived about ten minutes later. They looked about as surprised as you’d expect. We told ‘em where the body was, and then we were brought in for questioning. There was the usual “do you know anyone who would do this” type stuff. Kinda lied to them then. Plenty of people wanted Tom dead for one reason or another, but nobody would do this.

They’re still searching for the killer since the state Tom was in was… y’know. They ain’t gonna find anyone. I think we all know that. And that’s about it, really. Band’s on hiatus until we recover or find a new guitar player. Whichever comes first. And I doubt we’ll be fully recovered anytime soon. Our singer was the closest to him and she took his death pretty hard.

  
  


HOPE

Yeah, I feel bad for Meg. We should visit her again soon…

  
  


One more thing about Tom, though. As I was being asked about who’d do this to him and why, I couldn’t— it just felt wrong to think someone _else_ did it.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

What do you mean?

  
  


HOPE

I- I think Tom did it to himself somehow. I don’t know _how_ he would’ve but- but I can’t shake the feeling. That’s the uh, first time I’m actually admitting it to anyone. It just- it scares me, y’know? That he lost all control and ended up like this. I’d hate to think what would’ve happened to me if James didn’t scare him off.

  
  


ARCHIVIST

Yes, I… I can certainly see why.

  
  
  


[CLICK]

[CLICK]

  
  


ARCHIVIST

I’m… I’m not too sure what to make of this one. There’s no doubt in my mind that this- this gentleman that they encountered is something like Michael. Maybe he’s some sort of second identity? But they couldn’t remember what he looked like, whereas Sasha _could_ remember Michael, and he didn’t have sharp hands so… I don’t know. I believe these two, though, that much is certain.

Tim did some digging into the police records and confirmed what Mr. Breekon told us, though he couldn’t gain access to any of the photos of the body itself. Probably for the best, really. I don’t think he would’ve been able to stomach it. He also found out the reason why nobody knew Tom was dead was because his rent had been paid during the time he was dead. I don’t think I need to say who I suspect did that.

Sasha tried to reach out to the lead singer of the band, Megan Shaw, but she said that she “wasn’t ready”. [ _sigh_ ] I also did some digging of my own and found photos of the band before Tom’s death. They all seemed… really happy together. [ _heh_ ] Reminded me of my old college band. It’s just saddening to see how quickly things can spiral out of control.

[ _long pause_ ]

[ _quieter_ ] I hope they can find a new guitarist someday. End recording.

  
  
  


[CLICK]

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first installment of the human-but-still-avatars b+h au, hopefully i can create more content for it in the near future if school doesn’t kick my ass ""^^... i might also do more stuff with the gentleman if ur all interested. side note, the names i used for the band/characters are all stranger related :]
> 
> comments and kudos greatly appreciated!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr @mag128


End file.
